Washington, D.C.-based Blackboard in May announced its intent to acquire the privately held Angel Learning for about $95 million, including $80 million in cash and $15 million in stock. The Indianapolisbased Angel provides software for distance learning to more than 400 clients, generating about $22 million annually in revenue and employing 122 staffers, according to the Indianapolis Star.
With the acquisition, Blackboard said its client roster will number more than 5,900 K-12 schools, colleges and universities, government organization and corporations. Shortly after the planned deal was announced, Blackboard said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division was investigating the planned merger. Blackboard said it is cooperating with the investigation and did not expect it to impede the deal’s completion.
Other providers of “e-learning” software include Epsilen, Desire2Learn and eCollege. Also available is open source software such as Sakai and Moodle. Blackboard in 2005 acquired its then top rival, WebCT, for about $180 million.
Ray Henderson, formerly head of Angel Learning’s product strategy and development efforts and now president of Blackboard’s teaching division, Blackboard Learn, recently launched a blog at www.rayhblog.com/blog to discuss various distance learning issues, including concerns from some customers about the Blackboard-Angel merger.
DoD Salutes Anheuser- Busch Program
The Department of Defense recently gave Anheuser-Busch President Dave Peacock the Secretary of Defense Outstanding Public Service Award for the company’s “Budweiser Here’s to the Heroes” program, which donated $1 million to create a scholarship fund for the spouses and children of military servicemembers, and also provided free admission to Anheuser-Busch theme parks for members of the U.S. military and their families.
The Intrepid-Anheuser-Busch Fallen Heroes fund provides scholarships to spouses and children of military personnel killed during the war in Iraq. More information is available at:
Study Focuses on Student Veterans’ Health
A report by the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities finds that postsecondary student veterans do not appear to differ “substantially” in overall health from the general student population, apart from experiencing higher rates of some mental health issues and sexual assault. More than 800 veterans enrolled in 15 Minnesota colleges and universities responded to a survey in spring 2008 on the use of health insurance; mental health; use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs; personal safety and financial health; nutrition and physical activity; and sexual health.
“These are the first real health data available on veterans going back to universities and colleges as students,” Ed Ehlinger, the director and chief health officer of the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service, said in a press release. “We found that in most respects, the veterans look like the rest of the student population.”
There were some differences, though. The study reported about 9 percent of male veterans reported post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with 2.8 percent of non-veteran male students; about 14 percent of female veterans reported PTSD compared with 5.4 percent of non-veteran female students; and more than 43 percent of female veterans reported sexual assault at some time in their lives compared with nearly 30 percent of non-veteran female students.
The study also found veteran students overall were better immunized and more physically fit compared with non-veteran students. The rate of alcohol use in veteran versus non-veterans students is about the same, the study found—87 percent versus 83 percent—while about 5 percent of student veterans reported use of marijuana versus 10 percent for non-veterans.
Steven Frantz, system director of student services for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, said the report, which was partially funded by a congressionally directed grant, pointed to the importance of campus veterans centers.
A full report on the findings is available at www.bhs.umn.edu/ healthdata/results.
Gates Foundation Aids Community Colleges
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced it will give $16.5 million in grants to 15 community colleges and five states to expand remedial education programs designed to improve the completion rates of low-income and minority college students. Close to 60 percent of students overall in community colleges take remedial classes in basic academic subjects, according to a recent report from a public policy advocacy group called Jobs for the Future, while nearly 90 percent of low-income and minority college students at some colleges must take remedial classes.
Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Texas and Virginia will receive grants to phase in common statewide standards about remedial coursework and allocation of credit.
Schools that will receive help with programs to improve remedial coursework in various ways include Housatonic Community College, Conn; Valencia Community College, Fla.; Guildford Technical Community College, N.C.; Cuyahoga Community College, Ohio; Houston Community College, Texas; and Patrick Henry Community College, Va.
The Gates Foundation also awarded $6.4 million in total grants to six public policy organizations to research issues related to the college completion rates of low-income, African-American and Hispanic students. The American Enterprise Institute will receive $1.25 million to study accountability in higher education; the Center for Law and Social Policy will receive $1.5 million to create a new center promoting better federal and state policy for low-income students; the College Board will receive $670,000 to examine student aid systems; Excelencia in Education will receive $600,000 to promote the importance of improving Latino college completion rates; and the Institute for Higher Education Policy will receive $1.58 million to study policies related to academic excellence and degree attainment.
For more information, visit www.gatesfoundation.org.
USDLA Announces Annual Best Practices Awards
The U.S. Distance Learning Association at its annual conference this spring recognized a number of schools and companies for best practices in the field of distance learning. Winners included:
• For teaching: Dr. Janice Butler, University of Texas at Brownsville; Gina Thames, University of Texas at Arlington; and Jim Ellis, Lamar State College
• For leadership: Dr. Sanjeev Arora, University of New Mexico School of Medicine; Christine Beishcel, Bellevue University
• “21st Century Awards”: Navy eLearning; University of Wisconsin-Madison Master of Engineering in Engine Systems; Arizona Telemedicine Program
• USDLA hall of fame: Dr. Darcy Hardy, University of Texas System
• USDLA Eagle Award: Gov. Beverly Perdue, D-N.C. More information is available at www.usdla.org.
Herzing Wins Wisconsin Readers’ Choice
Readers of Corporate Report Wisconsin magazine named Herzing University Online the “best school for online education” as part of its annual Best of Wisconsin readers’ choice awards. More than 2,600 subscribers cast ballots for the awards. In second and third place in the category were the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Lakeland College. In the category of “best school for continuing education,” the University of Wisconsin at Madison won, with Madison Area Technical College in second place and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee third. ♦